A chronicle of ownership of NB Percy and life in general. For the boater and the gongoozler alike.

Monday, 3 October 2016

On your marks get set..... BAKE !!

No nothing to do with cakes (sadly) more to do with what way Percy points on its mooring. At the end of the autumn cruise we duly followed John the boat painters instructions to give the boat a good wash and polish spring and autumn.

So on Friday on returning I gave the boat a good wash and left it till Sunday to complete the polishing job.

Hopefully you can see on this photo the extra finish the polish gives with the left side having been polished and the right side as was after a wash down with car cleaner.

It is no small task polishing the whole boat but together we did it and did the off side safely by motoring over to the tow path.

Originally we were going to take the boat to Alrewas and wind it so we could do the other side.

While I was polishing away I recalled a chat with Graham, ex owner of NB Huff'n' Puff who kept his boat pointing towards Hunts lock for many years only to see in some degree how much more the east side of the boat had faded. On our moorings the sun rises and spends a lot more time on one side of the boat than the other - hence the paint bleaching more one side than the other.

We prefer to point towards Hunts lock as we are more likely to go that way than the Alrewas - more routes going away from Alrewas .... so that is how Percy pointed for the first year of its paint job. So this year we will bake the other side so we will keep pointing towards Alrewas.

It has the added benefit that when the junction lock stoppage is on after Christmas if we need to bolt for a marina mooring (more on that later...) we will not be stopped by not being able to wind the boat.

Anyhow a lot of hard work and this is how Percy looked yesterday in some autumnal sunshine. Click the photo for the best result !

We ended out holiday with a trip to the red Carpet cinema for a meal and to see Bridget Jones baby - great food and great entertainment.

This morning at 5.30 the boat was a tad cold but we were soon away leaving what would have been a stunning sunrise - to bake my boat !

Just remembered a funny thing...... when we were polishing the boat a young Labrador came up the towpath and started barking at its reflection - a mirror finish, I kid you not !